


lead me back from the darkness like you do

by patchworkgirlofoz



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, wizards being nasty and cowardly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23736238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchworkgirlofoz/pseuds/patchworkgirlofoz
Summary: Just another day in the life of the Mighty Nein. Plans go wrong, people get hurt, and some monsters (not naming names) have eye beams that cancel any healing.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Fjord
Kudos: 58
Collections: Caduceus Clay Whump Collection





	lead me back from the darkness like you do

Jester felt the moments stretch out before her, each one growing more mountainous than the last. The clouds had gathered above them, lightly at first, and then within this five or maybe ten minute span they had grown more and more dark. Shouldn’t they have heard from Veth by now? She exchanged glances with Beau, who only shook her head, her mouth pulled in a thin line. 

Pushing herself off from where she’d been leaning against the wall, Jester started to pace around the large balcony which wrapped itself lengthwise halfway across the fourth floor of the tower. Tried to get her restless energy out. She knew her tail was twitching behind her, but she couldn't find it in her to be bothered to control the anxious energy. 

The rumble of thunder could be heard from a distance. Jester watched the drops fall and land on Yasha’s shoulder and trail down her bicep. 

Caleb’s hand squeezed Beau’s shoulder tightly. The slight movement was enough to draw everyone’s attention. His face was always pale, but now it was as though all the life and color had been drained away, accentuating the hollow set of his cheekbones.

“I can’t - Frumpkin is gone,” he said, shuddering, as he pulled out of the vision. Beau clasped his shoulder to help steady him. “He was just behind - I don’t know what happened.”

Instantly Jester messaged Veth. 

“Veth? Where are you? We are really worried. Caleb lost Frumpkin. Are you alright? Let us know if you need help. Please reply back,” Jester said, her voice going even higher in panic with each word. The group was quiet following her message, but then Jester bit her lip, and shook her head slightly. There had been no response. 

“We have to go in,” Caleb said, “We can’t wait for her signal. Something happened.” He broke Beau’s hold. She frowned, but let him go. 

“Jester, tell Fjord. He and Caduceus are still at the back,” Beau said. Jester nodded.

“Fjord! Frumpkin is gone and Veth isn’t answering. Something went wrong. We have to go in after them. Meet us at....” she trailed off, looking towards Caleb.

“The second floor. Past the brass doors, there is a large almost throne-like room.” 

“Self-important fucks,” Beau said. Caleb only nodded.

“... second floor, brass doors!” Jester finished, hoping that was within the limit of the spell. She got an affirmative response from Fjord, but not any indication on whether or not he heard the last part. 

She couldn’t worry about that now. Beau and Caleb had already entered the closest room. Yasha was by the door, waiting for her to follow. 

\---

Fjord turned to Caduceus, his expression grim. Caduceus knew before Fjord said anything that whatever news Jester had passed along hadn’t been good. He tightened his grip on his staff. 

“Forget the plan,” he said. “You still don’t see any guards?” Caduceus nodded. “Shit. This is such an obvious trap. We’re going in.”

Caduceus placed a hand on Fjord’s shoulder. “You think that’s for the best?”

Fjord shook his head, let out a huff of breath in frustration. “We don’t have a choice. Jester said they're going to the second floor… something about brass doors, I guess? I think it is a fair guess they know we’re here. Shit.” 

Caduceus nodded. He was already opening the gate as Fjord was talking. The ancient rusted iron creaked loudly in the silence around them. 

When they stepped into the small garden it was empty of any guard, as he had promised, or of any life at all. There were herbs - plant life - yes, but it was a garden impossibly empty of pests. Caduceus should know, as he’d been staring at it this whole time through the cracks in the gate past the stone walls. Not a butterfly, not a worm. It was unnatural and the air crackled of magic where they walked. 

He didn’t like it at all. 

Fjord slipped past Caduceus, his body slipping into an almost a half-crouch, as though that made him any less visible as he headed towards the small door in the corner. Caduceus followed behind more slowly as he looked at the small herb garden. It was well tended to, he would hazard a guess it had been watered recently enough though that could have been from the slight drizzle from the past few minutes. And there was a set of gloves that looked haphazardly placed in the dirt as though thrown aside in a rush.

He tugged at Fjord’s sleeve, and felt bad about it as Fjord flinched. “Do you think the Cerberus Assembly knew we were coming?”

“I don’t know how they could,” Fjord said, grimly. “Unless somebody betrayed us. Or maybe they were scrying on us this whole time in anticipation we were going to turn on them.” He turned the doorknob to the kitchen experimentally, and frowned as it opened without protest into a dark room. Not so much as locked. “I really hope not, Caduceus.” 

Caduceus squinted as they entered. The light in the kitchen was out, and it was difficult to make anything out when the only light came from the open door. Even that was negligible, the storm clouds outside having obscured the afternoon sunlight. Fjord walked slowly forward, keeping an arm on Caduceus to guide him through. He led him past chairs scattered every which way, and pulled his sleeve to have him duck down under an array of pots and pans which would’ve been quite an attention grabber, provided there were even any other people left in the tower.

They reached the other side of the room, and Fjord ducked his head out the side, quickly surveying the hallway. He pulled back into the room and leaned against the wall, letting out a long, tense sigh. He shook his head when Caduceus looked his way. Nobody, nada, zilch. 

“Jessie, I’d appreciate an update,” Fjord said, under his breath. 

“She can’t,” Caduceus said, “Or, I wouldn’t think she would. I wouldn’t. She needs to save her power for when it matters.”

“Right,” Fjord said. “You ready? The stairwell is just straight down the right corridor - at least according to the plans we found, which I fucking hope are real at this point.”

Caduceus nodded, and followed after as Fjord stepped out from the door frame. For a minute they both stood there, almost frozen, in anticipation of being surrounded. Fjord's grip on the Star Razor was tight, though he hadn't activated it yet. Caduceus resisted the urge to call his beetles from his staff. But nothing happened. After a moment, then two or three more passed, they began to move forward. 

There were sconces on the walls, but none were lit. Fjord reached back and Caduceus took his hand, squeezed it. He knew it was as much an offer of guidance as an assurance that in this dark unknown space they were venturing through, that something wouldn’t reach out and separate them from each other.

The hallway ended in a few feet, a small ivory bust of the wizard of the tower. The closer to it the easier it was for even Caduceus to make out in the dark. It appeared to be staring straight their way. It was uncanny, the way the eyes seemed to watch them as they approached. It lent more to the feeling that only one small movement would have this whole trap springing around them.

And that was the worst of it, wasn’t it? Knowing something was coming, but not the how or the when of it.

Fjord swore under his breath. Before Caduceus could so much as react, he had reached out and pushed the ivory bust off its pedestal. It went crashing into the hard ground, too firm to shatter into pieces, but the nose did break and a fissure broke a line through one of the eyes.

“Fjord...”

“They already know we’re here,” Fjord said, though he didn’t sound certain. “I just couldn’t stand it staring at us. Something is watching us. I can feel it under my skin.”

The open doorway to the left of the bust was the stairwell, a long spiral of stone steps that reached all the way to the top-most floor. Fjord stepped in first, then beckoned for Caduceus to follow. It was cramped for him, his elbows skidding against the wall as he climbed, too small by about half a foot so he had to crouch slightly as they walked. Caduceus was grateful that he had no trouble with cramped spaces, but was more grateful yet when he left it and could stretch his neck out again.

It didn't take them long once they were on the right floor to find the rest of their party. 

Jester was waiting outside the hallway, and if that was not enough, the large brass doors behind her back couldn't have been for anything other than the room they were in search for. Two antique looking knobs in the shape of lions' heads about as big as Caduceus' own skull were set in the middle, and from each mouth hung a large metal circle. From a guess, this was how the doors had been opened as there seemed no other way besides perhaps magic. It seemed like it would be difficult to move the doors with how thick they were but then again, Jester and Yasha could manage just about anything. While he wasn't sure how Veth or Frumpkin had gotten in a place like this, Caduceus assumed they must have managed to slip in through another route.

They followed Jester into the room, quietly. The floor was tiled with white stone but this was almost entirely covered by a large and intricate rug depicting a strange and abstract scene in dark maroon and deep navy blue. A figure in ivory was stretched out, each part of their body cut open with almost surgical precision. Instead of blood, however, it seemed to be bleeding stars a a navy blue night sky, which poured into the maroon background to form lakes, mountains surrounding the four corners. There were no facial features to this person despite the skill, only two eyes in an unnervingly unnatural green. In parallel, rows of golden braziers stretched out on either side of the large room, though none of them were lit. 

The light instead came from above. Caduceus glanced up. And up, and up, and up some more. The ceiling above them was quite large by itself, but there was a circular hole in the middle where a chandelier or otherwise might have been. This stretched far past the next floor and several more beyond, reaching all the way to what must have been the top of the tower. For there, above their heads and casting light, was a sun-bright sky. 

“That's very strange, isn’t it,” Yasha said, quietly, as they approached. The rest of their group, minus one, had gathered before the rug, right on the edge of it. They were careful not to touch it. 

"There's no way," Beau said, "No way. No fucking way that's real. That's - we would have noticed if there was no roof on the tower."

"It's not in the plans," Fjord said. "No. Definitely nothing about a giant hole through all of the floors leading to the roof there."

"Plus, the sky outside is cloudy. It isn't clear and bright like that at all," Jester said. 

They all listened very carefully. They could still hear the raindrops against the walls, the windows. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Nothing had changed in the moments since they had entered the tower, though with their experiences with wizards so far they couldn't have counted out any tricks with time.

"Wow," Yasha said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Everything else happening aside, it is pretty neat," Caduceus agreed.

Caleb didn't seem to care much about the strange, impossible widow in the ceiling much at all. He was moving down the line of the right-side braziers. He looked pale and drawn, but not the kind of upset that Caduceus had thought he might, given similar situations which had happened to this party. There was a grim determination set in his face, and he was staring unblinkingly at the rug stretched before him and not looking at the rest of them. It reminded Caduceus of old Caleb, which he wasn’t sure was a good sign.

"There's got to be a trick in it," Caleb said. 

"What was Veth doing?" Fjord asked, "Before you lost Frumpkin."

Caleb shook his head. "She just walked in. She was on the rug. I don't know."

They all turned their attention back to the rug. 

"Hold on," Beau said, "We're not thinking of intentionally trying to trip the trap. Are we?"

"Well - what else are we supposed to do?" Jester said. "We can't just leave Veth alone."

"That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, we should be cautious here."

"We don't have time," Jester said, and whirled around out of Beau's grasp even as she tried to grab hold of her wrist. She strode over to Caleb, pulling his sleeve. "Caleb, don't you know exactly where you last saw her?" 

"Exactly," Caleb echoed. 

"Jester!" Beau said, as loud as she dared. “This place is dead empty. There’s no way this isn’t a trap. We should look around first, before we do anything else.”

“We all know it is a trap, Beau,” Jester said. Everyone looked at her, surprised. Her voice was flinty and her eyes were bright, a little wet. “We need to spring it.”

“Jester -” Beau said, again, pleadingly.

“So what are you suggesting?" Fjord said, "We just go walk over to wherever Caleb thinks Veth was at last, and hope for the best?" 

“Every minute we sit and talk about it, is another minute they have Veth!” Jester said. Caleb stood up a little straighter, more life coming back into his eyes. Yasha stood up from where she had been leaning against the wall. 

“She's right," Yasha said, quietly. "We are wasting time." 

"Veth was standing right there," Caleb said, pointing to the middle of the carpet, right at the oddly empty face. "Right on the eyes." 

Jester slipped right out of Beau's reach and strode into the middle of the carpet. Caduceus was the first one after her - he thought he might very well agree with her even if it felt terrifying. They definitely needed to be wherever Veth was now, and the quicker the better. Unsurprisingly, he felt Yasha fall into a silent step beside him. The other three were right behind as well, for all that Fjord and Beau were radiating nervous energy. Caleb... he wasn’t sure how to interpret now. He felt more quiet, more withdrawn. More focused. 

When they reached the middle of the rug nothing happened. Jester looked down curiously. She jumped up once, and then twice. Three times. Nothing happened. They looked at each other, and a moment of silence stretched out between them. 

Then there was a rumbling noise. The ground shuddered underneath their feet and fell one, two inches down… and then stopped. Yasha steadied Caduceus before he had even realized he was sliding sideways. He smiled at her, gratefully, and she smiled back.

Far off in the corner, the first two braziers on either side lit. When they did, the light did not burst upward as it would with a natural flame, but sideways in a line, not unlike Caleb's wall of fire spell. The flames themselves were a bright green, not unlike the unnatural shade on the eyes they stood upon.

"Guess we know what happened to Frumpkin," Beau quipped.

The same ignition sound came from the opposite side of the room, and they whirled around to see that the rows of braziers from each side were being lit in succession, moving towards the center of the room, trapping them in place. Uneasy, they started moving back towards each other. Caduceus tried to think of the spells he had available, his mind drawing a blank on what might be useful. Control water only worked if there was water to control - and he hadn't prepared for that today. He glanced over at Jester, so accustomed to relying on her for strategy, and she shared his panicked look. Caleb was already muttering something under his breath, though whether he was in the middle of casting a spell or just swearing in his native tongue, Caduceus wasn't certain. 

The floor groaned again, louder this time. As they all looked down beneath them, the texture of the rug had vanished. A sound not unlike the clicking of chains when a castle gate was pulled up echoed in the space around them. In a sudden, impossible jerking motion the floor beneath them flipped, throwing them down underneath it. But instead of being smashed into the white tile floor, there was a similar circle cut below that had been hidden by the wooden panels disguised as a rug. Similar, in that it was a long hole cut through, but this went downward into a dark, unknown end. 

They were in a free fall. Caduceus heard a few shouts, maybe even his own among them, as they plummeted. It happened so quickly, he had no time to think, but Caleb had.

It took only a second for their bodies to stop, hovering slightly in the air. Caleb’s magic glowed a slight orange in anything he did - for a second, Caduceus could make out the bodies of his friends all hovering in the vast emptiness of the darkness surrounding them. Looking up, he could see the faintest light from the dimly-lit room above. It must have been twelve feet already. 

Their bodies continued to fall, slower, much more gently now. Caduceus turned his attention below them. The darkness was impenetrable. 

“What is it?” he asked, quietly as he could.

There was at first only silence to his question. Then, in a fearful tone, Jester answered. “I-I don’t know. It looks like a skull. A monstrous skull, with glowing eyes. Oh!” She gasped. “There’s Veth.”

“Does she look- is she injured?” That was Caleb.

“Don’t cast any light.” Fjord warned, voice low and dangerous. “I don’t want to attract its attention.”

“Too late,” Yasha said, grimly. 

A beam of purple light - so bright to Caduceus’ searching eyes that the very intensity of it hurt - seemed to come out of nowhere, somehow missing both him and Yasha as they both tried to float out of the way. It smashed into the tunnel wall behind them, cracking the stone with a thunderous sound, before vanishing as quickly as it came.

“Shit.” That was Beau. 

Their feet hit the floor of the tunnel, rocky ground, as one. 

In the dark, cavernous hole they had been trapped in it was difficult for Caduceus to make out the complete form of the creature. He only knew it was here, somewhere, from the others reactions - and that it was dangerous. He swallowed, fear thick in his throat. 

" _Galas'var_ ," Fjord uttered. From the corner of Caduceus' eyes, a faint blue light crested to form the shape of a sword. The light cast from there was just enough to make out Fjord's features, the determined set of his eyes, focused entirely on something in front of them. Fjord pushed the sword forward into a straight line and the strange blue light began to dance out into smaller numerous shapes, almost like stars, until they were outlining a shape before the group in a radius of purple-blue light. 

Streaks of flame pulsed out from Caleb’s hands into the ground, lighting up the base of a fleshless, large floating skull from below in dull orange light. The flames sprung up from the floor and danced over the skull in a web of fire as the creature turned towards the source, a red orb floating in the hollow space where an eye might have otherwise been. An explosion of fire rocked the skull back, a column of light temporarily flaring out to illuminate the large floating skull and the stone wall behind it. 

The bony jaw dipped beneath it in a grin and a strange beam of green magic shot back in retaliation straight at Caleb, even as he tried to duck back into the corner.

Caduceus didn’t see if it hit Caleb or not. The wall behind him exploded and rubble went flying everywhere. The familiar sound of a crossbow being notched had his very sensitive ears twitching, and he turned to face that direction. 

Above him in a corner, Veth was loading her crossbow, her body hunched strangely and movements jerky as she took aim at Yasha. Fired. Yasha’s form lurched backward as one, two bolts hit her shoulder, her thigh. The third shot missed as Veth’s crossbow jammed. 

“Veth!” Jester shouted.

Caduceus, trusting that Jester would take care of that particular problem, reached over to Yasha almost reflexively pouring healing magic into her shoulder. But when he reached for that warmth, that stream of magic that flowed out from the center of his chest, he found the routes blocked by some strange unknown, something he could not push past. 

Yasha looked down at his hand, and then met his eyes. Slowly, in understanding, she put her own hand to her chest and Caduceus watched as little sparks of light flared out like tiny streaks of lighting - then fizzled and died before leaving her palm. 

“Caduceus!” Fjord shouted, in warning, but Caduceus couldn’t step out of the path of the light in time. A searing hot pain enveloped his body as the force of it lifted him off his feet, and he lost consciousness as he hit the wall. 

\----

Fjord hissed under his breath, stumbling into the darker shadows and away from the creature. He had managed to avoid the powerful magic it shot so far, but not the teeth - as he had moved away from it, the creature had reached out and chewed out a chunk of his chest and breastplate as its keepsake. 

Yasha charged forward, and Fjord watched in awe, uncertain if it was an incredible leap or if she was actually floating in midair. Her sword streaked in a crescent arc over her head, coming down to land with a commanding sound against the monstrous hovering skull. 

It shrieked a piercing thin wail of pain, except it felt like the sound was coming from inside Fjord’s head. He placed his hands on both ears to try in vain to block it out, but it did no good. 

Then the creature shot a blue light at Yasha, throwing her, too, against the wall - and spreading several spiderweb thin cracks out in a radius around her in the stone. She stumbled out, still on her feet. Blood dripped from her head, as she raised her face, glaring at the creature in a clear challenge. 

“Focus on me,” She growled. “Just me.”

At that same moment, Beau jumped over a few of the broken, jagged stones on the floor, pushing off the last to leap in the air. She came down to land on her bo staff, her body almost entirely vertical to the floor, using the full weight of her body and the force of the impact to jam the staff into the developing fractures in the skull, forcing the cracks to open up even further. 

In a movement so quick that Fjord’s eyes couldn’t follow it completely, she followed this up by jumping off and slamming her fists into the fleshless monstrosity. She then grabbed her staff again, pushing off of the skull and flipping down into a perfect landing on the ground right next to Yasha. She pushed her bo staff in front of her, in a clear challenge.

Slinking into the back for now, knowing that, at least for the moment, their friends had control of the situation, Fjord turned his attention to the other side of the cavern. He was incredibly grateful that they had successfully and collectively managed to draw attention away from the two bodies there.

Caduceus had been thrown this direction like a ragdoll, and now lay limp and unmoving on the cavern floor. He was still alive - Fjord could see his chest rise and fall as he walked closer, the faint blue light of the Star Razor ghosting over his body. But his arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, and there was blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth.

Fjord dropped to his side, and Caduceus coughed as he turned him over. He winced as Fjord moved his arm. 

“Hold on - hold still, I’ve got you,” Fjord said. He closed his eyes, pressing one hand to the broken arm and one hand to the pin Caduceus had given him, the symbol of his faith.

“It won’t work,” Caduceus said.

Fjord wasn’t paying attention. He focused, turning his thoughts to the Wildmother alone, letting that strange unfamiliar sense of peace wash over him. He didn’t have much, but what he had, he could make use of now. 

The warmth spread from the center of the pin, down into his chest, through his arm, down his elbow, to the tips of his fingers. He exhaled as it left him, every inch of it he had pushing into Caduceus’ wounds.

Healing magic was often unpleasant, Fjord had found. It sped up the natural process of things in a way that was often traumatic for the body. He couldn’t help but flinch back at the tell-tale sound of Caduceus’ bone snapping in place. To his ears, it reverberated from the stone walls, ten times as loud as it really was.

Caduceus sat up, grimacing in pain. He looked down at where some of his skin was pulling back together, and then directed his attention to Fjord. “Is it looking this way?”

Fjord shook his head.

And then Caduceus, incredibly, impossibly, smiled. “Good. That’s good.” 

At Fjord’s questioning look, Caduceus clarified; “When it looked in this direction before, I couldn’t heal. Now we know it works when it can’t see us. That's a good thing.”

Fjord couldn’t say he felt the same relief, not yet anyway. "I'll take any good news at this point," he said.

Despite himself, Fjord almost relaxed as Caduceus placed a hand on his arm, and the warmth was returned to him twofold. Where the teeth of that creature had sunk into his chest, the skin grew back, tight and tingling and brand new. Blood, Caduceus could not return to him, but new energy thrummed through Fjord’s veins beyond even the adrenaline of combat. It pounded uncomfortably against the back of his skull as a headache as well. 

Behind them, Caleb took in a gasp of breath as Caduceus poured the most of his healing into getting their wizard back on his feet again. Fjord could do better than imagine how horrible it felt to be brought back from the brink of death in the middle of combat - he’d lived it many times over. He did not need his imagination to know that Caleb was feeling as though he’d been knocked out twice, the healing almost as painful as the initial injury. A headache and some tingling skin was miniscule in comparison. 

Fjord stood up, pulling Caduceus with him. 

“Veth -” Caduceus said.

“Jester’s got her,” Fjord said. 

Caleb walked behind them, slightly shaky and one leg more stiff than the other. “We’re not out of this yet,” he said. 

He reached out a hand, and a thin green ray shot out from his finger, slamming into the back of the creature’s skull. Fjord watched in fascinated horror as the bone caved in, falling into dust. It was only a tiny hole, however, and though the creature didn't turn to face them - yet - several of the floating eyes around it began to move in their direction. Caleb made a low sound in frustration. 

“Take Caleb,” Caduceus said. Fjord turned over his shoulder, but Caduceus was already vanishing from sight. It wouldn’t last him long, but Fjord understood immediately. It didn’t mean he had to like it.

He couldn’t see the disapproving stare, but he could feel it. “He won’t last another direct hit.” Caduceus’ voice was distant - safe, and far enough away, for now. 

Caleb was also frowning as Fjord turned to him, but he didn’t pull away as Fjord took his arm. Fjord took a breath and forced himself to wait until just as the monster was close enough to snap its jaws shut around them. Then, just at the very last moment, just at that last second where he thought it was possible he might have miscalculated, then and only then did he cast thunder step. 

The booming thunder echoed around the cavern, not only blasting in the creature’s face but making more dust and pieces of stone fall to the floor. Fjord wasn’t sure how much longer they were going to be able to fight in here, before it caved down around them and buried them with their enemy together. 

“Danke,” Caleb said, brushing some of the dirt off his coat.

“No problem,” Fjord said. 

Almost ridiculously out of place, but a delight to see, a giant lollipop popped into existence to slam down hard against the monster’s head. It was nearly immediately followed by three crossbow bolts in quick succession - Veth had been successfully rescued, or at least halfway so. The third and final bolt left a trail of sparks in its wake and, upon contact, exploded, sending the skull reeling several inches back. 

Fjord and Caleb exchanged glances as the skull began to move towards them, and they turned to start moving in opposite directions. 

“Don’t cluster together if you can!” Fjord shouted. “Six feet apart, everybody!” 

That definitely got the creature’s attention. Shit. Well, that had been the point in part. Caduceus was right - Caleb wouldn’t take another hit like that, and if whatever was in its vision couldn’t be healed, that would be disastrous. So it would be him, then. Well, he could take it.

Fjord really thought he could take it, but when it hit, saying he underestimated the pain was so much of an understatement it was closer to a lie. 

The pain was - unique. It was strong, but not like being pierced through with a falchion. It was incredibly, clearly magical in nature. It felt more like fire ants, biting and crawling up through inside of him, up his veins and directly into his heart. Once it hit there, it almost burst with it, the pain echoing and gathering inside of him. He knew he didn’t scream because the noise that tumbled past his lips was more of a choked gurgling. 

He slid, bonelessly, onto the ground. His vision was blurry but the figure who stepped in front of him was certainly Beau. He heard her scream of outrage as though it was through several layers of water. 

He tried to blink to clear up his vision, but it only grew more foggy. Tried to move, but it hurt too much, so he could only lie there with half of his face in the dirt painting and shuddering with the reverberations of whatever had hit him. 

Two hands grabbed his shoulders, and Fjord found himself being lifted up, knew it was Caduceus before he could even see him. Blind and desperate, Caduceus had somehow managed to find him, and was now pulling him into safety. 

_Oh right_ , Fjord thought, through the haze of pain, _The Star Razor is still giving off some light..._ His fingers clutched the hilt more tightly still. It had been in instinct that he had refused to let it go, he hadn't even noticed it was still in his grasp after being struck up until this moment. There was something to that thought. The sword that had been presented to him as a gift, now partly responsible for guiding Caduceus directly to him at a time when he needed him the most.

There was no time left to be gentle, and there was no way he could be healed in the path of this creature. Caduceus half carried, half dragged his body as far as he could before collapsing almost on top of him. 

“Fjord, can you hear me?” Caduceus’ voice was so low in pitch. It was harder to make out with the way everything sounded now, but Fjord could somewhat hear him with great effort. He nodded, once, but even that movement caused him to hiss in pain.

“No, no, don’t move.” The hands moved to the sides of his face. Pushing his hair out of his face, brushing the dust off. Caduceus’ hands were shaking. 

This time, the magic wasn’t warm. It was cold, almost painfully so, to the touch. It chased away the fiery, seething pain running through Fjord’s body. He shuddered as the magic replaced what had been burned out almost as quickly as it had just been obliterated, Caduceus’ magic spreading like roots into his body in a sensation that was so sudden and forceful it had him turning away, dry heaving against the dirt. Caduceus continued to hold him steady through the worst of it. 

Caduceus was coming into focus now, the perspective turning soft shapes and colors into defined features, into sharp lines. Dark circles under eyes, creases threatening to turn permanent around his brow. His eyes were closed tightly in concentration. Fjord reached up, wiped a drop of sweat that was rolling down his forehead. "Hi, Caduceus," he said.

Caduceus’ eyes sprung open in response. Fjord smiled. Caduceus gave him a slightly smaller, tighter smile in return. 

“Didn’t mean for that to happen so quickly,” Fjord said, words slurring together a little through the pain. 

A blast of fire distracted the both of them, as they turned to watch as Caleb flung up a wall of flames. The sudden burst of light had Fjord squinting, and he was sure it was worse for Caduceus who had gone from barely able to see anything from the smallest sources of light, to an intense brightness. 

This time, it was Caduceus who stood up, pulling them both up together. Fjord winced, holding his side.

“That felt like death magic,” Caduceus said, “Don’t get hit with that again.” 

“I’ll try my best,” Fjord said. 

They were viciously pulled back into the fight as the mental shriek of the creature pulsed through their heads. With hands helplessly pressed against their ears, despite the ineffectiveness, they looked back towards the center of the cavern.

For those precious few seconds while they had been distracted, it appeared their party had finally managed to overpower the monstrous skull and were now encroaching upon it, as it lay before them, the left side of its fleshless face half buried in the ground.

And there was Yasha, outraged and with her new, full wings looming out from behind her like a strange cape, striding up to their opponent. She put her foot on its jawbone for leverage, and then with both hands shoved her sword into the floating eye in the center. The eye burst open, a flume of smoke billowing out from it as the pulpy remnants slid onto the ground and then faded into ash as they watched. 

Caduceus leaned against Fjord, sagging in relief. He was all knobs and edges, but he was still tall, which meant he was heavy. Not that Fjord was going to complain about that now, no matter how exhausted he was, or how much his body ached. He needed the comfort just as much. He slipped a hand across Caduceus’ waist instead, and pulled him closer. 

They didn’t need to speak it; they both were thinking the same direction, Fjord was sure. He was sure the rest of the Mighty Nein were as well. They had lost any surprise they might have once hoped for and the first strike against the Cerberus Assembly had been a disaster. Whether it was Essek, or another ally, or their own lack of caution they had blown this most crucial first step.

But it could have been worse. Fjord turned his head, resting his forehead against Caduceus' arm and let out a low, shaky exhale. It could've been much, much worse.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn’t name the monster in-fic because i don’t think the M9 would know what he is, but they've stumbled upon a Death Tyrant in its lair! This might actually be a monster they face as wizards are known to use them as guardians. Pretty terrifying stuff, worth a look. I didn't hold myself to exactly describing how this fight would shake out in a dnd game, so keep in mind there were many liberties taken. 
> 
> This is for the fjorclay week on tumblr, prompt day one: battle couple. I think it still fits, though I missed the M9 as a group so much, it became more ensemble than I had intended. Jester being the POV to start off wasn't intentional, but I disliked the disembodied message without context so. Who doesn't love more Jessie?
> 
> The song I took the title from is ‘Horse to Water' by Tall Heights, which is on my Fjorclay playlist. You can find that here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Z4fMhmoy53BB82k9WEDQ1?si=74VMTwfpRvGZx1-ULeupig


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